Yikes!

The original title for this post was "First Anniversary." That was three months ago! Life just got away from me and now I have a lot of catching up to do! So buckle up, kids - momma's in a hurry!

Meanwhile, back in September...
Well, folks, it's been one year since I started blogging. I'm very glad I did now as I look back over the year's entries. Time WELL spent!

It's been a little sparce lately as the summer winds down and there's so much to do. My garden is taking over the world and requires an inordinate amount of my time. I keep trying to get the kids excited to come help me, but Annie's arms and legs always hurt out there (very odd, I wonder where she gets that?) and Riley tries to take bites out of everything he picks. Then he gags. Then he tries to wipe out his mouth but he's got dirt and sand all over his fingers, so then he's crunching on what he wipes INTO his mouth. Then more gagging... So it's mostly just me out there.

I've learned some valuable lessons that I'll need to keep in mind for next year's garden (yes, I plan on doing it again next year!). First, I now know what spider mites are. Hard lesson. Secondly, 2 pepper plants to 9 tomato plants is not a good ratio. More pepper plants next year. AND FEWER CUCUMBER PLANTS!!! All those gardnener jokes about zucchini are true - except that for me, it's cucumbers. I take a cooler full of foot-long cucmbers with me everywhere I go. Yes, I'm that person. I don't think I will ever be able to bring myself to actually buy a cucumber again. Ever.

I've been filling the fridge and the pantry with jars and jars of salsa and marinara sauce and, when I'm too tired, just whole canned tomatoes. It's fabulous!

A normal day's haul - mid August

Fresh garden salsa

I got behind one week.
Three days without picking = 39 cucumbers!!!

The runt of the litter

Still, I really didn't get sick of any of it and I'm sad to see the garden winding down - not because of the end of summer but because I can no longer battle the spider mites. They win this round but they've suffered heavy losses and I will come back stronger and smarter next year!